Henry Scott Baesler (born July 9, 1941) is an American Democratic politician and former

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

from the Commonwealth of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Life and career

Baesler was born in Lexington, Kentucky. He graduated from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

in 1963 and earned a J.D. degree in 1966. While at the university, Baesler played basketball under legendary coach

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

. Over his final two seasons, Baesler maintained a per game average of 10.3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, while shooting 83% from the foul line. After graduating from law school, Baesler practiced law and served as an administrator for Legal Aid, Inc., a nonprofit entity that provides free legal services to indigent persons facing criminal charges. He later served as a District Court Judge in Fayette County for some years before serving as mayor of Lexington from 1982 to 1993. In 1991, Baesler ran for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in a four-way Democratic primary and was defeated, 184,703 to 149,352, by

Brereton Jones Brereton Chandler Jones (born June 27, 1939) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the 50th lieutenant governor of Kentucky and from 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor. He now ...

, who won the general election over

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Larry Hopkins. In 1992, Baesler was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 6th Congressional District of Kentucky after Hopkins declined to seek an eighth term; Hopkins had never recovered from being heavily defeated by Jones in the governor's race. Baesler served in the House for three terms. In 1996, he defeated

Ernie Fletcher Ernest Lee Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is an American physician and politician. In 1998, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 60th ...

by a vote of 125,999 to 100,231. He passed up likely re-election in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

to run for the Senate seat of retiring Democratic whip

Wendell Ford Wendell Hampton Ford (September 8, 1924 – January 22, 2015) was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be ...

. Baesler won a narrow (4.9 percentage points) primary victory over

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

businessman Charlie Owen and Lieutenant Governor Steve Henry, but was very narrowly defeated in the general election (0.6 points) by fellow congressman

Jim Bunning James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress. He was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to ha ...

, a Republican. Baesler assumed early on that he had no chance of carrying Bunning's 4th District, based in the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

suburbs. He aired almost no ads in the Cincinnati television market. This came back to haunt Baesler in November, as Bunning swamped him in the 4th, winning by a margin that Baesler couldn't make up in the rest of the state. Baesler barely won his own district, which came as something of an embarrassment. In 2000, Baesler tried to regain his House seat against the Republican who had replaced him,

. Fletcher had lost badly to Baesler in 1996 after Baesler painted him as an extremist, but by 2000 Baesler was badly wounded from his narrow loss to Bunning. He wasn't helped when Democratic presidential candidate

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

all but conceded Kentucky to Republican George W. Bush in August. Earlier, all four of Lexington's TV stations pulled a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad for Baesler, claiming the ad falsely charged Fletcher with cutting funding for education. In the general election, Fletcher defeated Baesler by 18 points as Bush carried the state by 14.2000 Election Results
Kentucky Board of Elections. Retrieved July 31, 2012

References

External links

record maintained by the Washington Post
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baesler, Scotty 1941 births Living people Mayors of Lexington, Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players University of Kentucky College of Law alumni Kentucky lawyers Kentucky state court judges Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky